Title: Psychological Assessment in the Workplace – A Manager’s Guide
Authors: Mark Cook and Barry Cripps
Price: £60
Pages: 368 hardback
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
ISBN: 0470861592
While perhaps not a normal holiday read, a family trip to Euro Disney arose between the commencement of this book and its conclusion – both the trip and book served to emphasise that straight ‘imports’ do not always result in a good ‘fit’.
Four days of ‘Americanised’ food and activity had a similar effect on my five-year-old’s disposition as some of the assessment methods are likely to have on employee relations in the UK. However, at least the book provides a series of explicit warnings.
It is a useful, well-written, inexpensive guide to the array of tools, methods and procedures available to a manager, albeit only in certain environments, to assist in selection, promotion and assessment. It provides an interesting compare-and-contrast exercise
for each section, and highlights their potential application, usefulness and legality in the recommendations section at the end of each section.
However, its success at being comprehensive could also be its downfall in terms of being practical. The sheer volume of methods available is impracticable and may serve to confuse rather than inform the reader. The “Be wary of ….” recommendations are very useful, however.
This book may inspire many readers to review or consider their current practices and perhaps cause some to investigate further a few of the more statistically valid and reliable tools available. However, it is the concluding chapter’s observations relating to incompetence and jealousy that are likely to strike a raw nerve in others, and may even be the catalyst which serves to spur into action those not easily persuaded by statistics.
Useful? 4 stars
Well-written? 4 stars
Practical? 3 stars
Inspirational? 3 stars
Value for money? 5 stars
All ratings are out of a possible 5 stars
Reviewed by Keith F Watson, Chartered MCIPD
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